Of course all members of the shadow cabinet will be travelling the length and breadth of the country during the campaign, but there will doubtless be particular interest in the constituencies which David Cameron visits. This will be a record of those visits (N.B. Target numbers are based on the figures of the notional majorities calculated by Profs Rallings and Thrasher at the University of Plymouth).

Wednesday 5th May Mr Cameron campaigned through the night, meeting night shift workers at WEC Engineering’s base in Rossendale and Darwen (Target 77), another visit to Ed Balls' Morley and Outwood seat (Target 196), where he went to a Morrisons supermarket distribution centre. By dawn he was with fishermen in the fishing port of Great Grimsby (Target 214). Then it was on to Nottinghamshire, visiting the Sir John Sherbrooke Junior School in Calverton in the Sherwood constituency (Target 152). By lunchtime he had travelled across to the West MIdlands to visit an ambulance station in Dudley North (Target 106). It was then on to Wales, where he paid a mid-afternoon visit to a school, Ysgol Daffyd Llwyd, in Montgomeryshire (Target 210) - meaning he has visited all four constituent parts of the UK in the last 24 hours. It was then on to Bristol for a final campaign rally (pictured) at Brunel's Old Station in the Bristol West consituency, whcih borders more marginal Bristol North West (Target 54) and Bristol East (Target 170).

Tuesday 4th May The day began with campaigning in Hendon (Target 73) for Matthew Offord, after which Mr Cameron flew to Northern Ireland to speak at a rally in Strangford, County Down. It is the seat that was held by Iris Robinson in the last Parliament for the DUP, but is being contested by Mike Nesbitt for the Conservaitves and Unionists at this election. It was then back in the air to travel to a rally in Renfrewshire East (Target 138) to support Richard Cook. He then travelled down the motorway to Carlisle (Target 132) where he visited night shift workers at the Carlisle Fire and Rescue station (pictured).

Monday 3rd MayA bank holiday, but a busy day for David Cameron, which started at the Chepstow Community Garden in Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Target 79) with local candidate Paul Maynard. He then went back to London where he visited the City of London Academy in the Bermondsey and Old Southwark constituency with Boris Johnson, Jeremy Hunt, Hugh Robertson and sports stars Gavin Hastings and James Cracknell to promote an Olympics-style school sports competition. He then addressed the Citizens UK Assembly in Westminster before being interviewed for Sky News by Adam Boulton - after which he addressed a rally in Feltham in the Feltham and Heston seat (Target 182) where Mark Bowen is the Tory candidate.

Sunday 2nd May After being interviewed by Andrew Marr, David Cameron headed for Cornwall, where he addressed a rally of supporters in Newquay in the new St Austell and Newquay (Target 119) constituency being contested by Caroline Righton. He then went up to North Wales where he went campaigning at a Tesco store in Holywell in Delyn (Target 186) with local candidate Antoinette Sandbach.

Saturday 1st MayThe first visit of the day was to the Lister General Hospital in Stevenage (Target 72) with candidate Stephen McPartland. He then spent some time campaigning in Woodstock in his own Witney constituency before going to Dagenham and Rainham (Target 151) where he visited the Rush Green Medical Centre before addressing a party rally with locsal candidate Simon Jones.

The full result is on the site here, but below are some statistics and historical comparisons relating to the Norwich north by-election:

Chloe Smith has won the seat from Labour with a majority of 7,348 with 13,591 votes and a 39.5 per cent vote share.

Labour came second with a 18.2 per cent share and 6,243 votes.

Labour lost 70 per cent of their vote from the 2005 general election.

The swing from Labour to the Conservatives was 16.5 per cent, nearly as high as the swing at the Crewe & Nantwich by-election (17.6 per cent).

This is more than twice as big as the swing from Labour to the Conservatives in the 1978 Ilford North by-election (7 per cent), which preceded the Conservatives 1979 general election victory.

It is of the same scale as the swing from the Conservatives to Labour in the 1997 Wirral South by-election (17 per cent), which preceded Labour's 1997 landslide general election victory.

Since 1950, when the seat was created, Norwich North has had a Labour MP for 45 of the last 59 years, holding in difficult years such as 1959, 1970 and even 1979. (It was held by the Conservatives between 1983 and 1997).

The turnout of 45 per cent is higher than the average turnout in the 36 by-elections held since 1997 (42.1 per cent) and better than 23 of those by-elections, including Sedgefield, Ipswich, Bromley & Chislehurst, Leicester South and Brent East.

This is only the second time the Conservatives have won a by-election from Labour in 27 years (the others being Crewe & Nantwich in 2008 and Mitcham & Morden in 1982).

Last year, Conservatives won Crewe & Nantwich from Labour on a 17.6 per cent swing.

The last Labour gain from the Conservative before their 1997 general election victory was in Wirral South (1997). Labour won the seat on a 17 per cent swing (and won the subsequent general election on a 10 per cent swing).

The last Conservative gain from Labour at a by-election before their 1979 general election victory was in Ilford North (1978). Conservatives won the seat on a 7 per cent swing (and won the subsequent general election on 5.5 per cent swing).

If the swing of 16.49 per cent attained at Norwich North were replicated at the general election , the following cabinet ministers would lose their seats: Jim Murphy, Alistair Darling, Ben Bradshaw, Jack Straw, John Denham, Ed Balls, Ed Miliband and Douglas Alexander.

By 6am this morning every household that had pledged to vote Conservative had received a leaflet from Chloe Smith's huge Norwich North team. Tory MPs including David Cameron and George Osborne were part of the dawn hours delivery team in a sign that the Conservative Party is not taking a single vote for granted. There were 1,200 different versions of the leaflet; each bearing the name of the street:

The leaflet then emphasises the need to send a message to Gordon Brown and Chloe's local credentials.

The ConHome coach trip to the Norwich North by-election saw a party of 29 of us meeting yesterday at 9.30am at St James's Park tube in order to make the two and a half hour journey up to Norfolk, during which we watched the first two hours of the classic drama, House of Cards.

We were greeted on arrival by Theresa May, who is campaign manager, and our candidate, Chloe Smith.

After a quick briefing, we were off the coach and being ferried to various parts of the constituency armed with literature.

It was testament to the slick operation on the ground - being overseen by Stephen Gilbert - that we were out on the campaign trail within five minutes of arrival.

There are a dozen places left on the ConservativeHome coach to Norwich North THIS Sunday (19th July).

Please use the donations button below to pay £15 to reserve your place
on the coach. It will be leaving from outside
St James's Park tube station at 9.30am on Sunday morning.

Eric Pickles - Party Chairman - should be joining us for lunch during the day.

As is now traditional on the ConHome by-election coach there'll be a free Krispy Kreme doughnut for every traveller!

The coach will be back in London (traffic permitting) for 8pm.

WE HAVE DECIDED TO
CANCEL THE CONHOME THAMES CRUISE FOR 23RD JULY SO THAT THOSE WANTING TO
HELP OUT ON POLLING DAY IN NORWICH CAN DO SO. THOSE WHO HAVE BOOKED
WILL BE RECEIVING A REFUND OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

These are momentous and historic times in politics – an economy in turmoil, a delusional Prime Minster who actually believes 0% is an increase, and a country desperate for change.

David Cameron has shown leadership, and that he is prepared to take difficult decisions. David’s handling of the expenses issue has been in marked contrast with Brown’s dithering.

I don’t have to remind you of the fun we had last year in Crewe and Nantwich and in Henley. Or the impact that defeating Labour in a safe seat in a northern stronghold had on the Labour Party and Gordon Brown’s floundering administration.

Well it is time to get back in the saddle, and ride to the next showdown in Norwich. There were many reasons why Edward Timpson secured the first Conservative gain in a by-election for more than 25 years, but I have no doubt that a key component was down to people like you.

Please use the donations button below to pay £15 to reserve your place on the ConHome coach to Norwich North. It will be leaving from outside St James's Park tube station at 9.30am on Sunday 19th July.

We'll be greeted by by-election campaign spokesman Theresa May MP who will give us a short five minute briefing on Chloe Smith's bid to win this important seat from Labour.

As is now traditional on the ConHome by-election coach there'll be a free Krispy Kreme doughnut for every traveller!

The coach will be back in London (traffic permitting) for 8pm.

If you would rather pay by cheque please send a £15 cheque (made payable to ConservativeHome) to ConservativeHome, 5 The Sanctuary, Westminster, London, SW1P 3JS.

WE HAVE DECIDED TO CANCEL THE CONHOME THAMES CRUISE FOR 23RD JULY SO THAT THOSE WANTING TO HELP OUT ON POLLING DAY IN NORWICH CAN DO SO. THOSE WHO HAVE BOOKED WILL BE RECEIVING A REFUND OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

ConHome is likely to run a coach from London to Norwich North on Sunday 19th July. But before going ahead I need to establish the degree of interest. If you would be willing to give up your Sunday for some leaflet delivering in this crucial by-election please email me. The cost will be £15.

Thank you.Tim Montgomerie

PS

Any members or activists from Kent who are keen to offer help in the Norwich North by election are welcome to join Tracey Crouch and the Chatham & Aylesford coach on Monday 20th July. The coach will be departing from Blue Bell Hill (just off J3 of the M2) at 9am and will be returning from Norwich at 6pm (arriving back in Kent around 9pm).

To book a space or for further details please email Andrew at the Chatham & Aylesford Association office: [email protected] or tel: 01634 853322.

A letter from David Cameron has been direct mailed to every voter in Norwich North. Each letter has been personally addressed to every voter.

The letter has two big themes: The expenses crisis and the economic crisis.

Of MPs with controversial expense claims, he tells the letters' readers that "I don’t care if they were within the rules – they were wrong." He continues: "I’ve been very clear: anyone in my party who refuses to accept the decision of this panel will not be allowed to continue as a Conservative MP."

He then puts honesty and the debt crisis at the heart of his letter:

"We should have the confidence to tell the public the truth – that Britain faces a debt crisis. Our national credit rating is under threat. Every international institution agrees that we now need to clear up the mess. Even members of the Cabinet agree, and the Chancellor outlined future cuts in the Budget. But Gordon Brown refuses to face up to what has gone wrong, and what everyone else agrees must be done. The truth is that real spending plans will have to be cut whoever is elected. We have already set out some specific cuts a Conservative Government would make – like ID cards, burgeoning quangos, and the cost of politics. And we have set out whole areas we will radically reform to get better value for money – like education and welfare. We know that if you talk honestly to people about the spending decisions that need to be taken, they will respect you."

Here is a PDF if you wish to read the whole letter and accompanying survey.

Attached to the letter is a pledge from Chloe Smith, our candidate, promising how she'll handle her own expenses:

LibDemVoice had the cheek to complain a fortnight ago that a Tory bar graph wasn't 100% fair (although it was perfectly ok). I hope they will disown the bar chart that appears on their new leaflet in Norwich North! Just look at it. That 4% advantage of the LibDems over Labour - as represented by the LD newspaper's bar chart - looks twice as large as the 10% advantage that the Tories have over the Yellow Peril.

The rest of the newspaper (Download PDF of Lib Dem Newspaper) is also interesting for its negativity toward Labour and particularly the Greens. It looks like the Yellows are playing for second.

Conservative candidate Chloe Smith has been in place since January 2008 and you can read more about her campaign on her website. It's certainly good weather for campaigning at the moment, as the picture here of Chloe with MPs Richard Bacon, Alistair Burt and Owen Paterson demonstrates.

But no by-election has been called for the other vacant seat, Glasgow North East, vacated by Michael Martin. It was suggested in this morning's Daily Record that the poll there would not happen until November! I blogged at the weekend about the ludicrousness of the situation whereby people are left without an MP for months on end.

The Labour Party this afternoon selected a candidate to stand in the forthcoming by-election caused by the resignation of Labour MP Ian Gibson in Norwich North, where the Conservative candidate will be Chloe Smith, who has been in place and campaigning in the seat since January 2008.

According to the website of the Eastern Daily Press, the red rosette will be donned by one Chris Ostrowski, who is described as an "activist from London" whose connections with the area extend to having studied at the University of East Anglia and been seventh on the list of seven for Labour in the recent Euroepan election in the East of England. He was selected at a meeting of around 50 Labour members.

Whilst claiming that he intends fighting "a positive campign", he said on his selection that he will speak out where he thinks that "the threat of Conservative cuts could damage Norwich or hurt the chances of its people".

A poll published on Friday suggested that Labour are poised to suffer a considerable drop in support and lose the seat to the Conservatives.

The writ is yet to be moved for the Norwich North by-election (caused by the resignation of Labour MP Ian Gibson), but there is an expectation that the contest will held before the end of July.

However, today the first poll of the campaign has emerged, which points to the contest very much being a two-horse race between Conservative candidate Chloe Smith (pictured) and a yet-to-be selected Labour candidate, with the Lib Dems and Greens trailing in a fight for third place.

Within minutes of Ian Gibson announcing his resignation as MP for Norwich North key Tory strategists including Stephen Gilbert, Oliver Dowden and Andy Coulson were in a conference to plot tactics to win the seat for the Conservatives.

Yesterday the Conservatives distributed their first election leaflet across the seat. See PDF here.

The Tories' first task is to kill off a third party challenge. The Greens, in particular, score well in other parts of Norwich. The leaflet contains the chart above and the Conservative candidate Chloe Smith's top message will be that only a vote for her can send the clear message of voter anger to Gordon Brown.

The other thing I like about the leaflet is the byline below In Touch; 'This leaflet has not been paid for by the taxpayer'!

10am: I am currently unable to publish comments to this post for some unknown technical issue. I've raised the issue with the California-based blog host and when they wake up (!) I hope I'll be able to approve the comments already left.

8.30pm update: Ian Gibson, the Labour MP for Norwich North has been barred by a Labour disciplinary panel from standing again for the party at the next election (the same fate was delivered to three MPs who had already announced they were standing down: Margaret Moran, Elliot Morley and David Chaytor). Conservative candidate Chloe Smith has been in place since January 2008 and needs a swing of 8.3% to overtunr the notional Labour majority of 6,769.

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11 am update: Sky News is now reporting that a third Labour MP is to quit - Beverley Hughes, Children's minister will step down as MP for Stretford and Urmston in Greater Manchester at the general election. Mark Versallion has been Conservative candidate since October 2007 and needs a swing of 10.6% to overturn the notional Labour majority of 8,310.

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This morning brings news of two more Labour MPs retiring at the general election.

David Chaytor, the MP for Bury North who has already had the Labour whip suspended over the allegation that he claimed £13,000 for a non-existent mortgage, has said he will not be seeking re-election at the general election.

The Conservative candidate, David Nuttall, has been in place since November 2006 and with or without Mr Chaytor, the notional Labour majority of 2,059 was always going to be high on the party's target list. He will take the seat with a swing of 2.5%

Meanwhile, the former Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, has announced her intention to vacate Leicester West at the general election. A Conservative candidate is yet to be selected in the seat, which has not had a Conservative MP since it was created in its current incarnation in 1974. The incoming Labour candidate will have to defend a notional majority of 8,539 over the Conservatives, who would need a swing of a little over 13% to gain the seat.